The new Eureka Springs Coffee House is a family affair. The business that opened in August at 11 N. Main in a large building painted colonial blue is owned by Jeff and Heather Carter, whose children, Lizzie and Adam, also work at the business that serves a variety of sandwiches and soups in addition to coffee drinks, smoothies, local craft beer and fresh-baked breads and pastries.
The family members have long been fans of Eureka Springs. They used to visit frequently while living in Rogers.
“We really love the town,” Heather said. “We liked the building that we bought. We just decided to make the jump and move to Eureka Springs. Opening the coffee shop is what drew us here, but the popularity of our food offerings is more than what we initially expected. We planned a coffee shop and microbakery, and it expanded from there.”
Most of their baking is done in-house, in addition to some breads and cookies from a bakery out of Fort Smith. Their most popular items are the coffee menu followed by muffins, scones, croissant sandwiches, and gourmet grilled cheese plates.
There are several types of croissant sandwiches including breakfast, club and chicken salad. There is the option of substituting lettuce for bread for those on a keto (low carb) or gluten-free diet. Their power-up wrap with avocado, turkey and veggies and the veggie wrap can also be ordered without bread. The menu continues to evolve, with plans to add more keto choices.
“Keto and the gluten-free options have done really well,” she said. “We’ve been working on that, and doing vegan alternatives, as well.”
There are also soups, such as tomato bisque, chili, cheese broccoli, taco and potato.
The shop is spacious with comfy couch seating offered in addition to metal tables and chairs. A variety of different white painted doors hang from the ceiling.
“Most of the doors on the ceiling were there from the previous owner,” Heather said. “We did a lot of refinishing work and added some new doors. The building had a lot of amazing features already that we wanted to highlight and restore. We visited a lot of coffee shops around the country the year before we bought the building to get more ideas. Some of our design inspiration came from many of the refurbished buildings in Bentonville and Rogers.”
A large part of their business is tourists, just like the rest of downtown.
“Business is going very well,” Heather said. “We love being here and everyone has been very supportive. We appreciate regulars and hope to build more local relationships. The Chamber of Commerce, Heart of Eureka and Main Street Eureka have all been helpful. The City Advertising and Promotion Committee has had meetings here.”
An advantage of the location is there is a lot of parking nearby, both private lots and city meters.
Heather said it has been great having their children involved in the business.
“Both kids had experience in food,” she said. “Our son was a manager for Chick-fil-A, and our daughter was manager of a Harps grocery store. My husband and I also have a technology company we started in 2000, and the kids have been in and out of that business. The coffee shop is something we started with them, and they had more knowledge coming into this business than we did. It has been fun having them back with us and helping us get this going.”
The space is well suited to live music. They have had music a few times and plan to have more by spring. They will be looking for acoustic groups.
They got their beer & wine license in the middle of December.
The shop is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and Fridays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.